Folding berth latching means



June 5, 1951 J- J. MAYER ETAL FOLDING ssn'm mcumc. mus

' Filed April 21, 1949 Illa/ a 11/111,111! IIlIlIllIl'l/IIIIII PIC-1.2

INVEN TOR. J m Mayer. BY .fimber c CI Deam.

A TTORNEY Patented June 5, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Narberth, Pa., assignor to The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Pa, a corporation of Pennsyl- Vania Application April 21, 1949, Serial No. 88,844

The invention relates to latching means for locking a. folding berth, such as is used on railway sleeping cars, in its folded condition :flanki-ng a wall of the room with which it is associated.

It is an object of the invention to provide a simplified such means, and one which can be readily manufactured and assembled with the berth and car bodystructure.

It is a further object of the invention to combine with the latching means a safety stop device for preventing the movement of the'berth, independently of the will of the operator, from its stowed position for more than a predetermined, limited extent.

These and other and further objects and ad.- vantages and the manner in which they are attained will become evident from the following detailed description when read in connection with the drawings forming a, part of this specifica tion.

In the'drawings:

Fig. l is a fragmentary side elevational view of a portion of a railway car to which the invention is shown applied, two adjacent rooms of said car being shown in longitudinal vertical section, the section being taken substantially along the line l! of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view along the line 2-2 ofFig. 1; and

Figs. 3, 4 and are enlarged detail views, partly in section; Fig. 3 being fragmentary view as seen looking in the direction of the arrows at the ends of the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 being an edge view of the upper corner of the berth as seen looking from the left of Fig. '3; and Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view along the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

The invention is shown applied to a railway sleeping car having rooms, as A and B, Fig. 1, convertible into either sleeping rooms or sitting rooms.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, each room is defined by a car side wall, as ID, a center aisle wall, as H, spaced transverse walls I2 interconnecting the side and aisle walls, a floor I3 and a ceiling l4.

As shown in room A, Figs. 1 and 2, when the room is made up as a sitting room, the berth l5 occupies a stowed position flanking the adjacent wall l2 and is disposed in an alcove IS in said wall so that its bottom wall merges smoothly with the adjacent portions Of the room walls.

The berth is hingedly supported on a transverse axis, as at [1, so that it can be moved from the stowed position to the horizontal use position shown in dot-and-dash lines in room B, Fig.

2 Claims. (01. 5-436) 1. In this position, it extends substantially the length of the room. In front of the berth is arranged a folding seat is which is adapted to fold downwardly under the berth when the latter is moved to the use position (room B, Fig. 1). Additional accessories in the room are the hopper I'B, the wardrobe 20 at one side of the doorway and door 2! in the aisle wall, and the cabinet 22 and folding washbasin 23 at the opposite side of the aisle doorway.

It will be seen that the aisle wall II is transversely thickened to normally receive the accessories 20, 22 and 23 within the overall thickness thereof.

As shown in Fig. 1, room A, the berth is locked in its alcove [6 by the latch mechanism according tothe invention, and in room B the berth is "shown in an intermediate position, in which further downward movement is stopped until the latch mechanism is again operated.

The latch mechanism and the safety stop, forming the main features of the invention, will now be described in detail.

As clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the inner margin of the berth 15 moves parallel and in close adjacency to the inner face 24 of the aisle wall I I, and this relation makes possible the combining of a stop dogwith the latch mechanism to limit the downward swinging of the berth in case the latch does not engage the keeper to lock the berth in the alcove, as will be described hereinafter.

The berth frame is a sheet metal structure of shallow box-section form, having a bottom wall 25 and side walls 26 extending at substantially right angles to the bottom wall. At the side of the berth adjacent the aisle wall, the marginal reinforcement of the berth frame also provides a panel 21 extending some distance inwardly from the adjacent side wall 26 and in parallel relation to the bottom wall 25, see Fig. 5.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the side wall 26 has an Opening 28 formed therein at the corner of the berth frame, the metal of the margins of said opening being offset inwardly at 291. The latch base plate 30 fits within the offset margins and is secured thereto, as by screws (Fig. 4), so as to be substantially flush with the surrounding wall 26.

The base plate is formed with a socket 30 opening to the outside, this socket guiding a latch plunger having a stem 31 guided in an opening in the bottom of the socket and through a noncircular head 32 secured to the outer end of the stem end guided and held against rotation by sleeve 45.

dog 4! which is normally spring-pressed by a coil the non-circular form of the socket 30'. To provide ease of engagement of the latch plunger with the keeper 33 (Fig. provided therefor at the top of the alcove I'E, an anti-friction roller 34 is mounted in the head 32. A coil spring 33' surrounds the stem 3| and reacts at its opposite ends against the bottom of the socket 30' and the head 32 of the latch plunger, respectively, so as to constantly urge the plunger outwardly toward latching position.

The extreme inner end of the plunger stem 3| is additionally guided by a bracket 35 secured to the inner face of the marginal panel 21, see Fig. 4.

The means for manually operating the latch plunger may comprise an abutment 36 adjustably but rigidly secured to the stem 3|, said abutment providing a horizontal face 3'! extending symmetrically on opposite sides of the stem, Fig. 3.

An operating handle 38 rotatably mounted in the boss of a base plate 40 mounted on the bottom 25 of the berth frame, has secured to its shaft 39 an abutment 4| similar to abutment 35. This abutment 4| is arranged with its horizontal face 42' in opposed relation to the face 31 of abutment 36, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

It will be seen that the turning of the handle from. the full-line position of Fig. 3, to the dotand-dash line position will cause the abutment 42 to be moved to the inclined dot-and-dash-line position and thereby depress the plunger rod 3| and withdraw the head 32 into the socket 30,

thereby releasing the berth from the keeper for downward swinging movement of the berth. In the movement of the berth into the stowed position in the alcove, the roller 34 first engages the cam face 43, Fig. 5, which depresses the plunger in the further movement until the roller comes opposite the keeper recess 44, when the latching plunger isautomatically projected by the spring 33 into said recess to lock the berth in place.

It is desirable to provide a limiting means to prevent the downward swinging of the berth beyond a certain small angular distance, as indicated by the full-line position in Fig. 2, if the berth latch should, for any reason, be not fully engaged with the keeper.

Such stop means is, according to the invention, conveniently combined with the action of the locking plunger. At a suitable point in the length of the plunger stem, there is rigidly secured a To this sleeve is pivoted, at 46, a stop the aisle wall.

Fig. 3 clearly shows how these parts engage to stop the downward movement of the berth when the latching plunger is projected outwardly. In

4 this position, the inclined outer face 5| of the dog 41 rests against the bottom of the slot 49. If now the handle is operated to the dot-anddash position of Fig. 3, the latch plunger is lowered and at the same time, through the camming action of the bottom of the slot 49 on the inclinedouter face 5| of the dog, the stop dog 41 is moved from the full-line position to its dot-anddash-line position so that the berth is released for further downward swinging movement.

The operation of the device is believed made apparent by the foregoing'detailed description,

. and further description of the operation is, there fore, deemed unnecessary.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, it will be understood that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a room wall having an alcove therein, another room wall at right angles to said first room wall, a foldable berth movable into said alcove and having one side thereof swinging closely adjacent to said other room wall,

a latch plunger on the berth spring-actuated to its outer locking position, a keeper on a socket mounted "at the top of said alcove for cooperation with said plunger to lock the berth in the alcove, a stop abutment located on said other wall, and a stop dog pivotally mounted on said plunger and normally urged outwardly through a slot in the side wall of the berth to engage behind said stop abutment and limit the downward swinging movement of the berth when the latch plunger is in its outer position.

2. A latch assembly unit for assembly with a foldable-berth, said assembly unit'comprising a base plate adapted to be secured in its margins to the margins of an opening in the corner of the berth frame, said base plate having a socket open outwardly in one direction, a latching plunger guided by said socket and a spring housed in the socket and reacting against the plunger and socket to urge the plunger outwardly, and a stop dog hinged to said plunger and spring-pressed to normally project outwardly through a slot in a part of said base plate angularly related to said socket when the latching plunger is projected outwardly.

JOHN J. MAYER. ALBERT G. DEAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,486,595 Marcum Mar. 11, 1924 2,514,032 Dean July 4, 1950 

